Ybarra 'seemed fine' before wreck, pal says

JoAnn Ybarra wipes away tears as she takes the stand during the intoxication manslaughter trial of her daughter Jenny Ybarra, in the 437th District Court in the Cadena Reeves Justice Center, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

Jenny Ybarra, who is on trial for intoxication manslaughter of Erica Nicole Smith, breaks down in tears as her mother JoAnn Ybarra takes the stand in the 437th District Court in the Cadena Reeves Justice Center, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

Jenny Ybarra, who is on trial for intoxication manslaughter of Erica Nicole Smith, breaks down in tears as her mother JoAnn Ybarra takes the stand in the 437th District Court in the Cadena Reeves Justice Center, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Michael Collin takes the stand in the intoxication manslaughter trial of Jenny Ybarra for the death of Erica Nicole Smith in the 437th District Court at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center. Collin was one of the two paramedics that were first on the scene of the accident. Monday, Feb. 6, 2012.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Michael Gardner takes the stand in the intoxication manslaughter trial of Jenny Ybarra in the 437th District Court at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center. Erica Nicole Smith died in the car crash. Gardner was one of the two paramedics that were first on the scene of the accident. Monday, Feb. 6, 2012.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Sabrina Shaner, who was driving the car Erica Nicole Smith was in when Smith died, breaks down as she listens to the recording of the 911 call she made about the head on car accident she was in. ,Jenny Ybarra is on trial for the intoxication manslaughter of Erica Nicole Smith in the 437th District Court at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center. Monday, Feb. 6, 2012.

Photo By William Luther/San Antonio Express-News

Jenny Ybarra looks Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 through the gallery at the 437th District Court at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center during her intoxication manslaughter trial for the death of Erica Nicole Smith.

Photo By William Luther/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Fire Department paramedic William Bullock testifies Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 in the 437th District Court at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center during Jenny Ybarra's intoxication manslaughter trial in the death of Erica Nicole Smith.

Photo By William Luther/San Antonio Express-News

Jenny Ybarra stands Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 as the jury enters the 437th District Court at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center during her intoxication manslaughter trial for the death of Erica Nicole Smith.

Photo By William Luther/San Antonio Express-News

Jenny Ybarra talks to one of her attorneys in 437th District Court at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center during her intoxication manslaughter trial for the death of Erica Nicole Smith.

Jenny Ybarra is on trial for the intoxication manslaughter of Erica Nicole Smith in the 437th District Court at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center. Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Sabrina Shaner, who was driving the car Erica Nicole Smith was in when Smith died, breaks down as she listens to the recording of the 911 call she made about the head on car accident she was in.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Jenny Ybarra views a video of herself taking the sobriety field test at the scene of the accident.

Photo By Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News

Jenny Ann Ybarra listens to testimony during her intoxication manslaughter and assault trial in the 2007 death of Erica Nicole Smith, a passenger in a car that Ybarra’s car slammed into.

Photo By Jessica Kwong, jkwong@express-news.net

Jenny Ann Ybarra (left), 32, faces two to 20 years in prison for intoxication manslaughter in the death of Erica Nicole Smith, and two to 10 years for the intoxication assault of Amber Wilson, a passenger who was injured.

Photo By Jessica Kwong, jkwong@express-news.net

During the testimony of Elizabeth Peacock, a Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office doctor, defense attorney Roy Barrera Jr. (left) argues with prosecutors Charles Rich (middle) and Clayton Haden (right) about whether Peacock could authoritatively comment on whether the victim could have survived if given immediate medical attention.

Photo By Jessica Kwong, jkwong@express-news.net

Jenny Ann Ybarra (left) watches as prosecutors show pictures of the drunken driving wreck to jurors.

Jenny Ann Ybarra's best friends and mother testified Wednesday that they'd begged her to go out and enjoy herself on the night in December 2007 when she caused a head-on collision that killed Erica Nicole Smith, 23.

She was a new mother who recently had caught her husband in an affair, they testified as defense witnesses at Ybarra's intoxication manslaughter trial.

“She was just very upset because of some problems that they had in their marriage,” said JoAnn Ybarra, who said her daughter and new granddaughter, Brooklyn, had moved into her home in Seguin that November. “She would basically cry every day; she was a total wreck.”

Bianca Gonzalez, who Jenny Ybarra met at San Antonio College, invited her to spend the night, and JoAnn Ybarra offered to watch Brooklyn. So Jenny Ybarra, described as being notoriously bad with directions and having problems seeing while driving at night, drove from Seguin to Gonzalez's home in San Antonio, friends testified.

After about an hour of catching up, the women met a third friend, Crystal Diaz, for drinks and appetizers at The Palm, a restaurant and bar downtown. Others later joined the women, who went to Suede Lounge for more drinks and dancing.

Despite Jenny Ybarra's statement in a field sobriety test that she'd been drinking at Boneheadz, the group dispersed about 1:30 a.m. without visiting that bar, Diaz and Gonzalez said. Bianca Gonzalez drove Jenny Ybarra's car to her house and they continued to talk.

But Jenny Ybarra soon grew emotional and became anxious to see Brooklyn, “feeling guilty that she had gone out and left the baby,” Bianca Gonzalez said. “She seemed fine to me. I walked her to her car.”

Heading back to Seguin, Ybarra drove the wrong way on Loop 410 near Rigsby Avenue and crashed head-on into a vehicle driven by Sabrina Shaner.

Speaking to her mother on the phone after she'd been booked by proxy at University Hospital after the crash, Jenny Ybarra said, “I don't want to live,” JoAnn Ybarra testified.

Amber Wilson, a back-seat passenger in Shaner's car, suffered three fractured vertebrae in the crash but testified Wednesday that she doesn't recall the events surrounding the wreck at all. Smith, a front-seat passenger, was initially left for dead by paramedics and later taken to then-Brooke Army Medical Center, where she died the next day.

As Smith's mother testified Wednesday before the state rested its case, Jenny Ybarra, now 32, was seen dabbing her eyes and nose with a tissue.

Erica Smith was “the most beautiful girl in the world,” Lisa Smith told the jury. She'd suffered a lesion on her brain that wasn't survivable, former Bexar County Chief Medical Examiner Vincent DiMaio said.